With Panathinaikos’ spirit, patience and stubbornness, Rui Vitoria’s “armada” broke the… wall of Athens Kallithea! The Greens, after a massive siege of 82 minutes, found the way to the net thanks to Alexander Jeremejeff’s “golden” goal, prevailed 1-0 at OAKA and closed 2024 ideally.

The Greens celebrated its sixth consecutive victory in all competitions and its third consecutive in the Stoiximan Super League championship, where it remained within striking distance of the top of the standings.

It was a game that Panathinaikos turned into an absolute monologue, as evidenced by the 31 finals against the visitors’ two, the 17-3 corner kicks and the 70-30% possession of the ball! As in the Tripoli match, where Jeremejeff again gave the solution in the final, the Greens showed patience in their game and were vindicated…

The picture of the match was clear from the start of the match. On the one hand, Panathinaikos attacking massively and on the other, Athens Kallithea defending massively. In the 8th minute, Tete tried to threaten with a shot from 20 meters, but Barragan blocked it with a double effort. Against the flow of the match, the visitors found an opportunity out of… nowhere, but in the 12th minute Dragowski was on hand and made a difficult and impressive save on Valbuena’s shot.

In the 18th minute, the Greens had a great chance after a double pirouette and a magical pass from Djuricic to Tete, who shot wide but hit the right post. Two more good shots from Ounahi followed in the 20th and 38th minutes, while in the 45th minute Mladenovic also threatened with a diagonal shot from inside the area. Previously, in the 33rd minute Athens Kallithea was left with ten men due to a correct dismissal of Moutinho with a second yellow card.

In the second half, the picture of the game did not change as the guests constantly played with ten players behind the ball, mostly concentrated in and around their area. This made it quite difficult for the Greens who tried to threaten in the 59th minute with Ioannidis with a pass in the movement inside the area, but Pasalidis countered, preventing the goal.

What followed was… a siege and countless finals! In the 68th minute, Mancini with a header, in the 70th minute Tete with a sliding shot, in the 74th minute Ioannidis with another header and in the 75th minute Jedvaj with a double effort, they had chances but did not score. In the end, the defensive wall of Athens Kallithea fell thanks to a nice collaboration between two of Rui Vitoria’s substitutions. Mancini delivered a “sweet” cross into the heart of the away team’s area and Jeremejeff, who was in the right place at the right time, executed it perfectly with his head, making the final 1-0.

Panathinaikos successfully completed a difficult and very demanding period of continuous competitive obligations with nine matches in 28 days, during which they remained undefeated with eight wins and one draw. The Greens returned to the top flight, secured qualification for the knockout stages of the Conference League and put the foundations for qualification for the quarter-finals of the Greek Cup. They can look to the future with great optimism…

Panathinaikos: Dragowski, Vagiannidis, Mladenovic, Ingason, Jedvaj, Arao (59’ Maksimovic), Ounahi, Bakasetas (70’ Jeremejeff), Tete (89’ Limnios), Djuricic (59’ Mancini), Ioannidis (89’ Zeca).

Athens Kallithea: Barragan, Soiri (81′ Mercati), Kainourgios (62′ Hanousek), Pasalidis, Tsivelekidis, Diba (74′ Ediage), Matiya, Manthatis, Moutinho, Demetrius (62′ Mechias), Valbuena (62′ Giani).